Show Notes

Segment 0 (00:37)

If you have not moved your RSS feed already away from
softwarefreedom.org, and to faif.us, you
should do that now! Here's links to the ogg RSS feed and mp3 RSS feed. New FaiF shows
won't appear on softwarefreedom.org.

Show Notes

Segment 0 (00:33)

The Bilski decision did not come out this week. The Supreme Court publishes all decisions on its website. The SCOTUS blog provides up to date information about the court schedule, including a live blog on the mornings when decisions are announced.(03:34)

Karen mentioned Patent Absurdity, a short movie that features Dan (Karen's also interviewed). (06:21)

Bradley mentioned that C# descends from J++ work inside
Microsoft, which became a point of contention between Sun and
Microsoft. (06:50)

Bradley mentioned his blog
post that has the same topic as this podcast. (11:17)

Meanwhile, back at the point is a reference to LUG Radio, which
is based on the phrase Meanwhile, back at the ranch. The origins of the latter
phrase is likely unclear, although an
unsourced Wikipedia article claims it was a phrase frequently used
by narrators of black & white American cowboy movies and TV shows of the
1940s and 1950s. (12:18)

Bradley mentioned that very few companies have made an overreaching
promise to licenses all their patents in a way acceptable for Free
Software. Red Hat
is one of them, although their promise isn't perfect, it has some
value. (33:34)

Software Freedom Law Show episode 0x0C

April 28, 2009

Karen and Bradley discuss the intersections of software patents with FLOSS licenses. They give a general overview of how patents generally interact with FLOSS, and then discuss the patent provisions of specific FLOSS licenses.

Running time: 00:46:50.

Show Notes

Segment 0 (00:35)

Bradley suggests that more knowledgeable listeners might want to
skip the first segment. (02:22)

Bradley mentioned that Jeremy Allison gave an award reading FATtest
Patent Troll to Sam Ramji at the Linux Collaboration Summit, although
the only URL we could find documenting this is a identica statement by Bradley
himself. (14:25)

Segment 1 (17:53)

Karen discusses the Edgar system, which has since been succeeded by IDEA. The filings that Karen mentions of Novell's agreements with Microsoft (with confidential treatment) are available here and here. (21:40)

Segment 1 (28:15)

Software Freedom Law Show episode 0x07

February 17, 2009

In this episode of the Software Freedom Law Show, Bradley and Karen
interview Van
Lindberg of the law firm, Haynes and Boone. The discussion centers
around explaining the difference between copyrights, patents and
trademarks to Free Software developers.

Running time: 00:40:18.

Show Notes

Segment 0 (00:28)

Unlike our previous guests Scott
and Richard, Van is an external, or
outside counsel, who are lawyers hired by the company or organization
that advise it from the outside. External lawyers are often employees
of law firms, as Van is. (02:07)

Segment 1 (03:47)

The term we don't like that Bradley keeps referring to is
“intellectual property”, which has often been criticized by
people in the Software Freedom world, initially in the writings of
Richard Stallman. (12:29)

Karen asked if Van is a patent lawyer. “Patent lawyers”
are lawyers who are the member of the bar in some state, and have also
taken a special exam to allow them to practice before the United States
Patent Office. “Patent agents” are non-lawyers who have
taken the same exam and can also practice before the United States
Patent Office. Practicing before the patent office is unique in the
USA, as you can do so without going to law school and passing a
state-level bar exam. (13:30)